


Scars

by tfloosh



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Angst, F/M, So much angst, adult timeline, it aint called scars for nothin', lead into wind waker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 14:02:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10572795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tfloosh/pseuds/tfloosh
Summary: Impa had always told Zelda that love was a sacrifice, but no one ever warned her of all the scars that sacrifice would carve on her heart.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Zelink Week way back in 2015. Love me some OoT Zelink angst.

Zelda never told anyone that she cried after sending him back. All alone in that cloud-filled space between worlds, her tears fell to no witnesses. His face as he gave her the Ocarina of Time had been one of complete and utter trust; he believed she was doing what was best for her people and for her kingdom. But the princess knew, oh she _knew_ , that what she was doing was selfish.

Impa had taught her that love was sacrifice. As a princess who loved her people, she must sacrifice her time and energy to see that they were protected. But as Zelda would quickly find out during her seven years of hiding, sacrificing for her people was hard to do when her people were in danger. Impa repeatedly told her she could do nothing to help them now. She was not strong enough, not old enough; she would only get herself captured and killed. Impa’s words did little to help the scars that seemed to form on her heart whenever she saw one of her people in pain. Even so, she awaited the return of her hero while training diligently so she could aid him when the time came.

And when he returned in a shimmer of blue light to the Temple of Time after seven long years of sleep, she was shocked into silence. He was so different from the little Kokiri boy she had sent out to fetch the Spiritual Stones. With the Master Sword gleaming in his left hand, he seemed like the very definition of the word heroic. He took a step away from her, and that’s when she remembered to speak. But she could not appear as Zelda to him; no, it was another sacrifice, another scar.

After months of tailing her hero, being his shadow and guide in the guise of Sheik, she had seen his selflessness, his compassion, and she had fallen in love. But the worst thing about falling in love, was knowing that this was the inevitable end. So when the choice came to keep her hero by her side or rip time itself apart to send him back to have a normal childhood, she wasn’t surprised at how quickly she chose the latter.

Of course she could justify her choice; it was not wholly selfish, she told herself. Her actions all those years ago were foolish and irresponsible. She had opened the gates to the Sacred Realm to Ganondorf and inadvertently caused the overthrow of her own kingdom and the loss of her hero’s childhood. To see the innocence of a ten-year-old Kokiri boy in the face of a seventeen-year-old man was almost heart wrenching. So she sent him back to have the childhood he deserved in a world untouched by the evil of Ganondorf, all the while knowing she would be left alone in her time, without her hero. Love is sacrifice after all, but this scar would never heal.

Years passed. Hyrule was rebuilt; Zelda was crowned Queen. She knew nothing of what happened to her hero after she sent him back in time, though she prayed fervently to the Goddesses every night that they would watch over and protect him. She was married when her council of advisers demanded she continue the royal bloodline, though she did not love her husband. But then the seal holding Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm broke much sooner than could have ever been anticipated. Zelda and the other sages didn’t know what to do. The Chosen Hero was gone.

Her people prayed to the Goddesses for deliverance from Ganondorf’s evil. The queen tried to fight back against the monster, but only so much could be done without a hero to wield the Master Sword. Eventually, she had a dream of storms and rain, unending rain, before a great sea with pockets of islands appeared before her. Zelda awoke in tears, knowing what was to come. She sent her daughter and husband away with her people to find safety in the highest reaches of Hyrule while she stayed at the castle in order to trap Ganondorf.

The storm clouds grew. Her trap succeeded in capturing Ganondorf in the castle where he would be trapped for years into the foreseeable future. But there was no deliverance for the queen. She watched as the rains poured, and her tears joined the downfall. She knew this was divine punishment for her selfishness. She was almost glad to see it come. The sacrifice of her love, her broken heart, her many scars, they were all for him, but he wasn’t there anymore.

Only one word left her lips as she watched the rain continue to fall.

“Link.”


End file.
